Buell claims cow milk title

Skylar Buell stole the show again at the 4-H Dairy Show Thursday, but a relatively new club also made its presence known.

Dean Cousino

Skylar Buell stole the show again at the 4-H Dairy Show Thursday, but a relatively new club also made its presence known.

The Temperance girl won her fifth straight Supreme Milk Cow award at the show with a four-year-old Jersey cow that milks about 90 pounds of milk a day, according to Skylar?s father, Drew. The choosing of the top milk cow at the fair is one of the highlights of the show, which ran until mid-afternoon, longer than normal.

Judge Adam Shafer from Corunna picked the Jersey as the best milk cow from among three in the finals. The other two ? also raised by Skylar ? were a Holstein and a one-year-old Ayrshire heifer. The Holstein, which was the Supreme Cow last year, has been milking more than 100 pounds a day, Mr. Buell said.

Skylar, 14, also won showman again and represented the dairy cattle barn in the annual 4-H Large Animal Showmanship Sweepstakes. Meckena Wickenheiser was the reserve champion.

Skylar arose at 5 a.m. Thursday and trained with other livestock when she could to prepare for the sweepstakes. But it was difficult to concentrate on sweepstakes because the dairy show ended so late (3:30 p.m.).

?I?m kind of getting used to it,? she said.

She and her brother, Stony, showed 11 cattle in 4-H and seven in open class.

A freshman at Ida High School this fall, she enjoys playing baseball when she?s not doing chores or working in the barn. She can play ?any position but pitching? in baseball, she said.

Organizers changed the format for the show this year. All 4-H classes were judged first followed by open class. There were 68 animals representing five breeds shown overall, according to Lyle and Cheryl Schafer of Ida, open class superintendents. That was an increase of five animals from 2011. The breeds included Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein and Jersey.

With only five farms left in the county that still milk cows every day, it is gratifying to still have some farms operating, said Dennis Meyer, adult treasurer for the 4-H Dairy Club. The farms include the Sieler family in Dundee, the Buell farm in Temperance and the Reaume Family, VanBurkirk farm and Calder Dairy, all in Carleton.

Luke Schafer said the big issues for dairymen are soaring feed and alfalfa hay costs due to the summer drought.

?There?s no hay,? Mr. Schafer, 37, said. ?The price of hay has skyrocketed and the cost of corn and soybean meal also has gone up. From a profitability standpoint, it?s tough. The worst part is we have no control over it.?

Complicating matters is the declining price farmers are getting for their milk. The price has dropped from about $20 a hundredweight to $16 this year.

Joanne Darling, recorder for the 4-H classes, said a total of 26 youths took part in showmanship, including a whopping 17 4-H?ers in the intermediate (ages 12-14) division.

Among the bright spots were a growing number of exhibitors from the Barnyard Bandits 4-H Club and six Explorers who showed cattle. The club, run by Calder?s, had 26 youths showing, said Sarah Burley of Carleton, leader of the club.

?We have three different clubs showing our cows to get dairy experience,? Ms. Burley said. ?We have Holsteins and brown swiss. Our club is growing ? we had two more girls interested this week.?

The Explorers, ages 7 and 8, also got a taste of showing. They included Austin Schafer, Ben Bruck, Gabriel Flowers, Kali Wickenheiser, Aiden Blaze and Stony Buell. Two children showed in the Pee Wee class ? Ellie Wickenheiser and Zach VanBuskirk.

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